Oh I just love having breakfast, it's the best meal to have out and about. A friend and I decided we should go out for a bite and they were still serving breakfast so we settled on fried eggs, bacon and mushrooms. I'm not that keen on tomatoes so he ate mine, but oh man the rest of it was divine. We had it with toast and jam.
I'm not big on going out for meals, mostly because it costs a lot more than eating in at home, but sometimes it's nice to just go out and watch the world go by. This is what this particular meal was about. We looked out over the valley where the vineyards were and just took it all in. My friend needs to convince me to leave the house because I'm a bit of a homebody, totally the opposite of him. He likes to get out and about and indulge in the finer things in life. I live a quiet life and the opposites seems so opposed but sometimes he manages to twist my arm.
This place had the best freaking coffee I've had in a while and it complemented the food perfectly. I have been to a number of these little places out in the small towns and they never seem to disappoint with their level of service and the food is almost always awesome.
It makes me think about what it takes to run a place like this...with all the feet having to be facing the right direction to get everyone working towards the same end result. The logistics involved with getting everything from point A to point B, the cooking staff, the training required and it's quite a lot. If you want it to be done well, it requires fingers on the pulse at all times. This place was working like a well oiled machine and had a slightly different way of doing things that most...they had divided up the restaurant into two separate parts - one for in dining and one for self service. At the self service section you don't get waited on like you do in a conventional restaurant environment. You don't pay for the extra service and instead of having your food brought to you, you get a little contraption that starts buzzing on your table when your food is ready and then you need to collect it.
I found it strange to see this at a restaurant as I had only seen it previously at shopping center food courts, but when I looked around, most of the tables were ordering self service so perhaps it's just a given that most people would prefer to serve themselves instead of being waited on.
The experience was actually quite pleasant not having a waiter hovering over our conversation and interrupting at the worst possible moments, so I was happy with it. There was nothing wrong with the food so it's not like we had to call anyone over to complain. Perhaps this restaurant is confident enough in their level of food prep and service that they know they can pull it off without comebacks.
What about you? Would you prefer self service or are you happy to be waited on?
Images are my own
